Harry Potter and the Rise of the Army
by ElementalMiSt
Summary: Harry Potter is now entering his sixth year. Tons of fun! Tons of fighting! Tons of satisfaction, as our hero, faces the challenges beyond his level…
1. Fun at the Dursleys!

Harry Potter and the Rise of the Army

By MiSt

This is going to be the first carefree/no angst story I've written in a long time! Hope you enjoy it!

Setting: Harry Potter's Sixth Year

Spoilers: SS, (PS for British people), CoS, PoA, GoF, and OoTP!

Summary: Harry Potter is now entering his sixth year. Tons of fun! Tons of fighting! Tons of satisfaction, as our hero, faces the challenges beyond his level…

Disclaimer: Oh how I wish I owned Harry Potter! 

Chapter 1: Fun at the Dursleys!

Harry Potter groaned silently as he rode back on Uncle Vernon's car. He did not want to go back to the Dursleys; he knew, that the first thing that would happen was that Uncle Vernon would lock him inside his bedroom and make him do nothing the whole summer. 

And to make it worse, he didn't even have his Firebolt! He had left it inside Umbridge's office. Stupid Umbridge. Curse her. 

He had more homework than ever. 3 rolls of Potions. 4 rolls of Transfiguration. 2 rolls of Charms. 5 rolls of DADA. It was impossible. 

But then again, spending the summer at the Dursleys was going to be boring anyway. He might as well finish more than he needed to. 

However, he was shocked when he got out of the car. Before he could enter the house, Uncle Vernon stopped him. 

"Harry." Uncle Vernon said. Harry gaped at him. Uncle Vernon almost never said his name. He usually called Harry, "boy" or something.

"I want to apologize. For all these years of harsh treatment, we've never given you the love that a child needs. During the year, your aunt, your cousin, and I had a family meeting. We figured, why do we treat you that badly anyway? You have done nothing to deserve it. Sure, your magical power is a bit… abnormal, but we now have learned that uniqueness is not a weakness. We particularly felt this after Dudley became top Junior Heavy Weight Wrestler of the Country. He was special, indeed, just like you are. And thus we decided that being mean to you was immensely unfair, so we plead for your forgiveness and tell you that you will be treated, like what a real child should be treated like." Uncle Vernon said. Then, he stuck out his hand.

Harry smiled. He never knew that Uncle Vernon would be like this. He had been dreading the return to Privet Drive Number 4 all year long, and now it seemed all the dread and worry had disappeared. 

He looked at Uncle Vernon's truthful eyes, his grinning facial feature, and Harry immediately shook Uncle Vernon's hand. Harry felt that, finally, he had a family. 

"Now, why don't I help you carry your trunk inside? It seems that every year I have noticed your heavy trunk, and every year I do not help you." Uncle Vernon reached forward and grabbed Harry's trunk. Then, they both walked into the house. 

What met Harry was quite a shock. Dudley Dursley was grown up, and not as ugly or fat as he used to be. He still had a pudginess side to him, but it was all but almost out. 

Aunt Petunia looked happier than he had ever seen her. Harry smiled. The Dursleys had finally noticed what has been sitting in front of them for the last 15 years. 

"Hello Aunt Petunia. Hello Big D." Harry said, grinning. Aunt Petunia unexpectedly swept him into a hug, saying sorry the whole time. 

After being released, Dudley smiled and shook Harry's hand. Harry noticed that his muscles were bulging out of his shirt. 

_Wrestling has had a drastic effect on him…_ Harry thought. 

"So Harry. How does it feel to be back?" Dudley asked, grinning. 

"Well… I felt dreadful at first," Harry said, "but now I feel a lot better. Thanks for appreciating me for who I am, you guys. I wonder what made you guys change your mind?"

The three looked embarrassed. 

"Harry… we will speak to you another time. In fact, we are embarrassed to say that it was not us who decided that you were mistreated, but we were actually taught a lesson, by one of your friends. His name was err… Renus Vucin or something." Uncle Vernon said. 

"Remus Lupin?" Harry asked, guessing. They nodded. "Really? He made you guys realize… that I was… mistreated?"

"Yes. He made us realize that you aren't that bad. I am once again, sorry, that we have mistreated you for such a long time." Aunt Petunia said. 

"No problem, Aunt and Uncle. Can I go to my room now? I need to get settled in." Harry said, grinning. 

"Sure. Please feel at home." Uncle Vernon said. 

Harry quickly ran upstairs, grinning as he unpacked. He felt better than he had ever did, what with the Dursleys suddenly having a change of feeling. 

"Hedwig!" He called. A snowy, white owl swooped into his room, for she had been flying along the train and car the whole time. She landed on her cheek and hooted.

"I want you to deliver this letter for me." Harry said. 

Hedwig nodded, staying patiently as Harry quickly scribbled out words on a piece of parchment. 

_Dear Sirius and the Order of the Phoenix,_

Hello! How's the fight against ol' Voldie snake eyes going? Anyway, I just wanted to tell you guys that you guys need not to worry about my well being these days. It seems that Professor Lupin finally convinced the Dursleys… to realize that they were mistreating me and I was like any other child. 

They were extremely nice and I feel extremely happy as this feels like I finally have people related to me. I hope everything is going fine. And if there's any secrecy don't bother hinting me because I'm too happy to care. 

Hope things are going well,

Harry

Harry smiled and tied the roll of parchment onto Hedwig's waiting leg. Hedwig hooted and flew out of the window, with a satisfied Harry looking at the far away soaring owl. 

"Now I have to begin my summer." Harry murmured to himself, smiling, as he took out all his magical stuff from his trunk and promptly fixed up his room. 

A week passed. Harry enjoyed immensely the care of the Dursleys. They treated him like Dudley, smiling, asking how the year was, putting food on his dish. For the first the Harry did not have to do the bacon or watch the soup. But he always helped out, figuring that he was thankful that the Dursleys would take him in. 

One fine, bright Saturday morning, Uncle Vernon looked over his newspaper 

"Umm… Harry. I was wondering if you could help me out in my factory. We have some extra manual labor there needed to be done, and Dudley is already doing lots." Dudley grinned. Harry stared. 

_So that's where he got his muscles. Not wrestling, doing manual labor!_

"Come on Harry. It'll be great fun!" Dudley said. 

Over the past week Dudley had been very friendly to Harry. He had taken much interest in all of his magical stuff, such as his spell-books, his wand, and his sneakoscopes, and others. 

"Sure I'll go. I'm bored anyway! You guys don't know how fast I finished my homework without having to sneak up at midnight every time to finish it!" Harry exclaimed. The Dursleys turned red sheepishly. 

"Thanks Harry. You will get… five pounds an hour for doing work. Each morning I will drive you two to my office. There's lots of friendly people in my place, Grunnings Drills."

"No problem, Uncle Vernon." Harry said. "By the way, if we spend the day there, where do we eat?"

Uncle Vernon laughed. "We'll be going to some café, or some restaurant of course! Or we might come back and enjoy Petunia's wonderful cooking." Petunia smiled from the kitchen. For once she did not look like a horse-face snobby-woman. 

"Okay. When do we start?" Harry asked, smiling at the thought of doing something. 

During the whole of Friday, he had felt immensely bored, what with finishing his homework and even doing a lot of bonus work also. He got so much of his work done that he felt that even that snooty old bat Umbridge would not fail him. Even though she was not teaching DADA anymore. Thank god. 

"Today, in fact! We'll be going in just a second. Be ready in about 30 minutes."

Harry quickly went and dressed up. During the past week, the Dursleys had bought him an actually versatile wardrobe of clothes. Black, white, blue, gray, red, orange, and yellow T-shirts filled the wardrobe, while multi-colored shorts were in there too. Most of the T-shirts and shorts and socks were in fashion- what with the not-too-long-not-too-short T-shirts and the reaching knee shorts, and the not going above the ankle socks. 

They quickly piled up onto the car. During the car ride, Dudley entertained Harry with lots of information about the people who worked there. He informed Harry that there were even some pretty girls, while growing red in the face. Harry suspected Dudley liked one of them. 

"So I suppose it's lots of fun working with them, eh?" Harry said, grinning as Dudley turned, if possible, even more red. 

"Well yea…"

"Have you asked one out yet?" Harry asked. 

Dudley wiggled his thumbs nervously. It was obvious he did not like to talk about that. 

"Well… I was considering it… but I'm too scared…" Dudley admitted. 

"It's okay, Big D. I was scared to ask someone out too." Harry said. 

"Really? You've asked someone out already? And don't call me Big D. That's what those faggots called me. I really don't like them anymore. Just call me Dudley. Anyway, did she say yes?"

Harry sighed. "No, she didn't. But that was two years ago. This year we went out for a couple of months until we broke up."

Dudley gaped. "You've already had a relationship? Woah!" He looked envious. "Who was it? I mean… not that I know anyone, but how does she look like?"

Harry figured that he did not like to talk about Cho Chang either, as Dudley had not liked to talk about his crush. 

"Her name's Cho Chang. She's Asian, with long, black hair."

"Oh. I see that you don't like her anymore."

"Yea… I don't like her anymore after our break-up." Harry said. He didn't tell Dudley that she had wanted to talk about a deceased person with him. 

The car stopped. 

"Welcome to Grunnings." Uncle Vernon said, leading Harry and Dudley through the big, magnificent office. It had 10 floors with lots of people working inside it. 

"I never knew a drill company had so many offices." Harry said. 

"Well, we're not only drills, we do lots of building houses too. In fact, the job I'm giving you and Dudley today is to help build a very large house. You guys will be helping move the stones along, and help place them on the house. It is an easy enough task for anyone to figure out."

He paused. Someone was chasing a cat down the hall, screaming, "TIBBLES, GET BACK OVER HERE!!!"

"Anyway," He continued, "you will meet up with your director in a moment. I hope you have fun! Just stay here. My office is to the left. You guys will finish by 5:00."

And Harry and Dudley waited. Finally, a burly looking man came over and stared at Harry. 

"I don't want weaklings. If you can't lift a 20 pounder, then please get out." Harry didn't know if he could lift one or not. 

"I can… I think." Harry added the last part a little softly, embarrassed by his own flimsy muscles. 

"Good. Come with me." They went into a large truck, and Harry and Dudley sat in the back. 

At the back, Harry and Dudley were talking about Dudley's school. It seemed as if they were already best friends. 

"And I used to like this girl, but since she went out with another guy I didn't like her anymore."

"Oh." Harry said. "It's kinda like me, except I still liked her afterwards, I guess. Cho went out with another guy, so I almost started hating her, but then…" Harry paused, not wanting to tell Dudley that Cedric had died, "they split up, and she went out with me."

Dudley sighed. "I see. I don't know if I'll ever get a girlfriend."

"Be patient Dudley. Time will come." Harry did not know what made him say those words. They just came out. 

During the day, they continuously placed 18-pound bricks on the house, and cemented it together. Harry was utterly exhausted. He thanked god when lunch came at 1:00 and he went with Dudley and Uncle Vernon to a fast food restaurant. He found that those hamburgers and fries were pretty good. 

So was that soda. 

At work, Harry just stayed to a side, continuously grunting and putting bricks onto each other. The engineers all looked anything but exhausted, and Dudley looked like he was lifting feathers. 

Harry was glad at the end of the day, where Harry received 40 pounds for that 8-hour service. 

He noticed that Dudley didn't get money, but instead he filled out a sheet saying that he did 8 hours of work. 

"It's a requirement for college graduation. You have to do lots of service."

"Oh." Harry said. 

Harry hoped dearly that the next day that they wouldn't do something… as hard. 

But his hope never came true. Instead, through out the week, he had even more houses to do. It seemed that 18 pound bricks were the prime of his life. He felt utterly exhausted each day and collapsed after dinner daily, at 7:30, and slept until 6:00 in the morning, where he would then wake up and get ready for another exhausting day. 

However, on Monday, something happened that made Harry a little… sorrowful. 

Harry was exhausted, in his room, reading a book on Magical Artifacts, when Hedwig flew back, dropping a scroll onto his desk. 

"Must be from Sirius and the gang…" He thought. 

He opened it. 

_Dear Harry,_

How have you been? First remember that Sirius is dead. Remember… he died… during that last battle, last year.

Harry closed his eyes. And let out a sharp breath. He had forgot that Sirius was dead. With the completely new Dursleys he had completely forgotten about Sirius, and actually did not think of him at all. 

_And we do have some cautions. Please, whatever you do, do not leave the perimeter of your house UNLESS you are supervised by your uncle. Were are glad to find out that your relatives are better. However, this gives you no right to wander around London. Please do not wander around. _

If you are missing your friend's letters, just to let you know, Hermione is in Bulgeria, and Ron is in Romania. They have already sent owls, and you will receive them in a day or two. Please don't be frustrated or impatient like last year. And we are hiding no secrets, in case you are wondering. After last year, we do not know whether Voldemort has gone or if he is merely hiding once more and gathering more followers. 

Since I am in a hurry, I will not tell you what has happened to the Death Eaters. Just to tell you, all of them were sentenced. I will tell you more specific details in my next letter. 

Remus Lupin

P.S. How many times to I have to remind you to call me Remus outside the classroom?

Harry smiled grimly at the P.S. He wondered if Hermione and Ron were having fun. Hopefully they were. He was having the time of his life getting exhausted each day. Oh well, at least he will soon grow stronger.

Harry sighed at the image of Sirius dying. It echoed in his mind. He sighed bitterly. Why did Sirius have to die? 

He plopped onto his bed and took a deep breath. No use crying over spilled milk. 

OOC Dursleys, eh? Oh well. This is the first non-angst or drama story I've done in a long time. Don't flame. Constructive criticism is appreciated. Next chapter is coming soon. Chapter 10 to the Dreams that Come True will be posted by Friday. And a new story may be posted on Saturday. 

Hope you enjoyed the story,

~ Thanking you for taking the time to read this story and hoping that no mistakes were made,

MiSt ~

__


	2. Letters Dudley's Crush

Harry Potter and the Rise of the Army

By MiSt

This is going to be the first carefree/no angst story I've written in a long time! Hope you enjoy it!

Setting: Harry Potter's Sixth Year

Spoilers: SS, (PS for British people), CoS, PoA, GoF, and OoTP!

Summary: Harry Potter is now entering his sixth year. Tons of fun! Tons of fighting! Tons of satisfaction, as our hero, faces the challenges beyond his level…

Disclaimer: Oh how I wish I owned Harry Potter!

Chapter 2: Letters + Dudley's Crush

It was the second week of July. In the morning, the great morning of July the 11th, two owls flew in, Ron and Hermione's owls. 

Harry, tired but happy to see those owls, quickly grabbed them rolls of parchments, let them have a quick dip of water (Hedwig almost poked Pig's eyes out when he fluttered around madly), and waited for Harry's answer. 

Harry opened Ron's parchment. 

_Dear Harry,_

It's great here in Romania! Charlie's dragons are so awesome! You should see one of those Russian Blazetails- they're huge, and their tails are so fiery! We met the Hungarian Horntail you faced two years ago; it was still hopping madly, as if you were still around getting the egg! 

(insert words that are crossed out here) _How have you been? Did Hermione write to you yet? I hope she's not having too much fun- I hate that Krum!_

I'll see you in Diagon Alley, on August!

Ron Weasley

Harry wondered what was crossed out that Ron had written but was crossed out. He decided that Ron must have written something that wasn't very relevant. 

He opened Hermione's parchment.

_Dear Harry,_

We heard that the Dursleys were treating you great from Remus! I hope you are having fun at your house. It's great here in (crossed out words) _Bulgeria here! Viktor's very nice. I'm having lots of fun!_

Anyway, please, don't think about last year's events. The reason Ron (more crossed out words here) _and I haven't mentioned it was because we were afraid you would… become… sorrowful, like when Cedric died. Please don't think about it. I know you loved him, but don't spend too much time crying over spilled milk. _

I'll see you in Diagon Alley! 

(Crossed out word here)_ Your Friend,_

Hermione

Harry stared. Hermione almost never crossed out words! She never made mistakes. Yet here was three smeared spots with lines across the words. 

_I wonder what they were saying that they didn't want me to hear…_

Harry sighed. Though it was insignificant, Harry also noticed that before it was always, "_Love From…_" instead of "_Your Friend…_" Harry did not know why she changed the last part. But that didn't matter. Maybe she realized that doing that could have some connotations that might be alluded by the former. 

Harry sighed. He let the owls go; scribbling only a short, "_Thanks for your mail. I'm busy, so I'll see you both at Diagon Alley._" 

What was weird was that the owls, Pig, and Hermione's borrowed farm owl did not go separate ways but went together. 

Two days later, after returning from the most exhausting day of all, doing about 500 18-pound bricks, an owl flew in and dropped a rather large letter on his desk. 

Harry reached forward, and noticed that it was sealed with the Hogwarts seal. 

Harry's heart beat faster. This was his O.W.L's results. He sincerely hoped that he got the rankings needed for becoming an Auror.

Opening the letter with trembling hands, he took out three sheets of paper. He decided to open the first one first. 

_Mr. Potter,_

Your O.W.L. scores have arrived:

Divination: Acceptable

History of Magic: Exceeds Expectations

Herbology: Exceeds Expectations

Astronomy: Exceeds Expectations

Care of Magical Creatures: Outstanding (Bonus- one point)

Transfiguration: Outstanding 

Potions: Outstanding (Bonus- one point)

Defense against the Dark Arts: Outstanding (Bonus- one point)

Charms: Outstanding (Bonus- one point)

You are qualified to go into Sixth Year, as you have reached the minimum requirement of two Acceptables..

Aaron Migefolk

Hogwarts Governor

Harry stared. He couldn't believe it. Four outstanding scores! Even in Potions! He thought he did very poorly on Transfiguration, yet he still got an Outstanding! This was much more than he had thought. Before he had thought he would only get an Outstanding in DADA…

Harry opened the next piece of paper. There was the list of spellbooks that were required for the next year. 

The last piece of parchment was shocking. Not in a good way. 

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

As Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger have both applied for the Advanced Wizarding Career program, they will be taking lessons in the Salem Institute of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Thus, two more Gryffindor prefects are required, so you, and Ginny Weasley, have been chosen for Prefects. If you decline the position of the prefect, you may reply no later than July 31st, where then we would assign another the prefect badge. 

Below is your prefect badge.

Minerva McGonnagall,

Deputy Headmistress

Harry stared in shock. He didn't care about the golden, shining Prefect badge below. He stared at the words. Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley, had ditched him for America. 

Harry nearly destroyed his room of fury. Last year they kept secrets from him and had fun while he tried diligently to get the news. Now that the Dursleys had become better, they just wouldn't give him a break and ditch him for some stupid institute of Salem! 

"Hermione… Ron… how could you two do this to me?" Harry seethed in restrained anger. He restrained himself from tearing the house down with his bare hands. He restrained himself from taking his anger out on the pillow. 

As he thought hard about the next year, which he dreaded, without his two best friends, two more letters flew in. Pig and Hermione's owl came again. 

Harry was just about to rip both parchments apart when he restrained himself and opened the first parchment. Hermione's. 

_Dear Harry,_

If you got your Hogwarts letter, I suspect you would be really mad. Ron and I are really sorry for leaving you, but we felt that this was a great opportunity. We are desperately sorry that you weren't able to come with us. However, there's three dances, the Halloween one, the Christmas one, and the Easter one, which would be happening at Hogwarts that Ron and I could attend, so we'll see you there. 

On a happier note, I'm really happy to say that I got four Outstanding scores, in Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts. I got Exceed Expectations for Arithmancy, History of Magic, Potions, and Herbology. I'm really mad- I got an Acceptable for Ancient Runes! I got an Acceptable for Astronomy though- but they say they'll change it to an Outstanding, for the machine read my answers wrong and read it backwards. I also got two bonuses for Transfiguration and Charms! 

That's 16 O.W.L.'s! The "Outstandings," are 2 points each, and the "Exceeds Expectations," are 1 point each. But you know what? I'm really mad… Professor Dumbledore said that someone else in our year got SEVENTEEN OWLS! THAT IS CRAZY! And I thought I worked hard! I can't believe someone got better than me! 

Ron did really bad, mind you. I think he'll want to tell you his O.W.L. scores himself- he barely scraped 6th year. I'm really mad at him. 

I hope you didn't do as bad as him. 

And once again, I'm sorry. For going to the Advanced program. I'll see you in the dances! Good-bye, Harry! 

Your Friend,

Hermione

Harry gaped- how could someone do better than Hermione? Reading Hermione's rubric for Owl scoring, he pulled out his sheet again:

_Divination: Acceptable_

History of Magic: Exceeds Expectations

Herbology: Exceeds Expectations

Astronomy: Exceeds Expectations

Care of Magical Creatures: Outstanding (Bonus- one point)

Transfiguration: Outstanding 

Potions: Outstanding (Bonus- one point)

Defense against the Dark Arts: Outstanding (Bonus- one point)

Charms: Outstanding (Bonus- one point)

He gasped as he totaled the scores out. He had 17 O.W.L.S! That was better than Hermione! 

Harry was shocked. Then, he felt a kind of gloating pleasure. That's what Hermione gets- ditching him! He was better than Hermione! Ha!

He suddenly felt a sudden competitiveness against Hermione. Now that she had ditched him, he felt that they were downright rivals. 

He was about to rip Hermione's letter apart when he saw Ron's. 

He opened it up. 

_Dear Harry,_

Listen, mate, I'm really sorry for accepting the offer to go to the Advanced Wizarding Career Program. It was only for prefects, damn, because I would have wanted you to join right away. I'm really, really sorry. 

What did you get on the O.W.L.S? I didn't do very well, probably as worse as you… I know it was really hard to concentrate last year. I got one below acceptable, two acceptables, five exceeds expectations, and one outstanding, on DADA, I bet you got an Outstanding on that too. At least I did better than Fred and George- they had only three O.W.L.S each. (Author's Note: Ok. I forgot how many O.W.L.S Fred and George got, but I seem to have a faint idea that they got three. So let's leave it at that. As for my scoring system, of course it's wrong, but who cares. It's fanon)

Did you know that someone beat Hermione? Someone got 17 O.W.L.S! That is the most amazing thing in the world! Even better than Hermione! I wonder who; I bet it's not Malfoy. 

Anyway, I really hate Percy. He came to our house the other day with the Minister of Magic and asked Dad to borrow something- Percy called Dad, "Mr. Weasley." He didn't even look at us like we were his family; as if we were complete strangers. I hate him!

And sorry, once more, for ditching you. I'll see you at the Halloween dance! Stay in contact!

Ron Weasley

Harry felt an even more gloating pleasure as he read Ron's letter. He felt as if Ron was now Draco Malfoy, the person he wanted to do the worst. He all of a sudden felt the regretting feeling of becoming friends with Ron instead of Draco Malfoy. But Malfoy might ditch him too, would he?

Harry sighed, putting the two letters away. He did not care anymore about Ron or Hermione. They had ditched him for a better opportunity. And that prefect badge wasn't even supposed to be Ron's! It was supposed to be his! HIS prefect badge! 

"Stupid Ron… stupid Hermione…" Harry muttered furiously. It should be Ron who was jealous right now, not him!

He sighed. Sure, the Dursleys were much better to him. But he did not feel much better. After realizing again that Sirius was dead, and that he would not be seeing Ron or Hermione at school, he felt as if he would just skip school. 

_You can't do that, Harry. Come on, you can live without those two traitors…_

Harry sighed bitterly, walking out of the door. 

The next time Harry and Dudley went to Uncle Vernon's office, however, they were met with something surprising. Uncle Vernon gave them twenty pounds to go bowling with a group of teenagers that were also working for service hours at Grunnings. 

They met at the entrance of the bowling place- and Harry immediately noticed that Dudley was right. There _were _some pretty girls, whom one of them Dudley was staring surreptitiously the whole time. Harry realized that only one other guy game with them, and that was a teeny weeny boy, who looked somewhere around 13. 

Harry didn't notice most of the girls staring at him. 

"Hey, Jennifer, Jessica, Judy, Alexa, Billy, Christina." Dudley said. The five girls and the one 13 year old greeted him, then turned to Harry.

"Hello. What's your name?" Judy asked. 

Harry didn't feel very comfortable around Muggle teenagers. Especially since he couldn't start rambling about Quidditch or Snape, he felt oddly reclusive and muttered a weak, "Hi." He felt weird that the teenagers weren't staring at his scar, either, but merely passed it without a second glance. 

"So… what school do you go to? Dudley's told us a lot about you…" Jessica said. 

Harry hoped Dudley didn't tell them he was a criminal. 

"Umm… some boarding school far, far away."

"Is it nice there?" Piped up Christina.

"It's o.k."

"What grade are you in? Same as Dudley's?"

Most likely not, as the grade system is different in Magical and Muggle schools. But since Harry and Dudley were about the same age, Harry replied, "Yea." 

"So you only back this summer? I haven't seen you anytime else. I remember you before in elementary school."

"Yea." Harry said. 

Seeing him as not a very talkative person, the teenagers didn't ask Harry about his life anymore. 

_Thank goodness._

They went in and each gave the clerk the money to play three games of bowling. Harry sincerely hoped he would not humiliate himself. 

As they sat around the chair, Harry noticed Jessica and Jennifer giggling to each other and pointing to him. 

Harry just turned and watched the bowling pins silently. 

It seemed Dudley was pretty good at the game. He scored a spare the first time he went on! 

The other girls went, and they had a little trouble, some doing the 4-6-7-10 split or the Christmas Tree. 

Harry went last. After seeing them play, he got a faint idea of how to bowl. He picked up the 10 pound ball, and rolled it. He didn't want to roll it too hard in case it went out of control. 

The ball slowed at half of the lane there and rolled to the side. 

"Come on Harry! You can do better!" Many of the girls yelled. Billy stayed quiet. Dudley was cheering also. A flushed Harry turned to get another ball, and decided that he would roll the ball fast at the middle pin, as if he was throwing a Quaffle into the goal posts. 

He was astonished. The ball left no survivors. 

"Nice job Harry! That was great!" Dudley yelled. 

While Billy was going, Harry noticed Dudley staring at Christina. 

_So that's who he likes._

Harry grinned. 

Overall, Harry thought he did pretty good at bowling. He got mostly spares, occasionally a strike. 

After bowling, Harry discreetly nudged Dudley as they went out of the bowling arena. 

"Ask her out."

Dudley shook his head. "What if she says no?"

"It doesn't matter."

"But since we're already… friends… I don't want to ruin our friendship."

Harry grinned. "Don't worry. She won't hate you."

"Ok."

He walked up. 

Harry faintly heard Dudley say something. 

Christina looked at him. 

"No."

Poor Dudley. 

~ Thanking you for reading this story, and hoping that no mistakes are made,

MiSt ~


End file.
